Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said he will surrender power in September, angering protesters who want an immediate end to his 30-year rule.ICE Brent for March jumped 30 cents to $102.04 a barrel by 1500 GMT, after briefly touching $102.18, the highest price for a front-month contract since September 2008. US crude rose 60 cents to $91.37."We suspect that the (as) yet unresolved political standoff in Egypt will likely keep oil prices fairly well bid, at least for the balance of the week," said Edward Meir, senior commodities analyst at brokers MF Global.Credit Suisse analysts agreed, saying price risks would remain "skewed to the upside" as long as geopolitical tensions in Egypt remained unresolved: "We expect oil prices to ease once tensions fade due to ample global inventories."Although the unrest in Egypt has so far had no effect on transit through the Suez Canal or the Suez-Mediterranean (SUMED) oil pipeline, shipping sources said there were major disruptions in Egypt's Alexandria and Damietta ports due to staff shortages and an absence of customs officials.Egypt controls the canal and the pipeline, which together moved over 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and oil products in 2009.At the back of many investors' minds is an unspoken worry that unrest in north Africa could fuel similar protests in bigger oil producers such as Libya or even Saudi Arabia, stirring fears of a temporary disruption to oil supplies.US crude oil stocks rose a greater-than-expected 3.8 million barrels last week, the US oil industry data said on Tuesday, while inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, climbed 667,000 barrels.Brent's premium to US crude futures jumped to about $11 a barrel from $8.50 after the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday reported an increase in crude stockpiles at the Cushing delivery point for the US futures benchmark.A Reuters survey of analysts forecast crude stocks to be up 2.7 million barrels, with distillate stocks slipping 700,000 barrels and gasoline inventories rising 1.9 million barrels.
